American Faces #72 - Built for adventure!

American Faces No. 72

Dan Cooke (American Faces No.72) looks like a man born a few hundred years after his time. With a full white beard and mane of white hair, surrounded by canoeing equipment and artifacts from adventures into the world’s most remote places, Dan appears the modern equivalent of the old French fur-trading voyageurs who plied the waters of the great North American wilderness in the 1600’s.

In fact, that’s pretty near the truth. Dan has paddled and guided countless canoeing trips over 1,000s of miles of water. He’s canoed the Rio Grande on the U.S. Southern border, and 500+ miles on the Kazan River in northern Canada. Dan’s been snow-shoeing in the Yukon, backpacking in Chili and climbing on Mount Kilimanjaro. Recently, he kayaked in Antarctica, winter camped in the Boundary Waters, and rode horseback into the back-country of Yellowstone.

The early canoe explorers may have shared Dan’s feelings about traversing solo through remote wilderness. “It’s simple. No agenda other than eating, sleeping and trekking through the day,” says Dan, “My mind and body settle into a rhythm, focused on the pure physicality of moving.”

Early on, Dan’s passion for exploring the backcountry, and sharing adventures with his family and friends, spawned a home-based business that took on a life of its own.

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Like a lot of entrepreneurial ventures, Dan’s business began with solving a problem through some creative boot-strapping – in this case, almost literally. Dan and his wife Karen, working together in the early 1970’s at the Adventurous Christians camp (now Covenant Pines) on the Gunflint Trail needed better canoe packs for their guided trips. Working with hand tools, Dan pieced together locally-sourced canvass material and straps of old boot leather to make four custom portaging packs, and Cooke’s Custom Sewing (CCS) was born. Today, CCS makes 20+ models of packs and various tarping systems and shelters, canoe covers, snowshoeing mukluks, plus other canoeing and camping equipment – all retailing online and distributed wholesale through a number of outdoor recreation stores.Each pack and piece of gear is built for practical functionality and back-country toughness, with a lifetime of adventure experience stitched into every one.

Dan decided to retire from his 20+ year career as a mechanical engineering technician a few years ago after Karen, his wife and adventuring partner, passed away. He now devotes more of his time to the CCS business, creating more adventure memories with friends, and going solo into the wilderness.

Dan says of solo canoeing, “It’s pure – your paddle is the single connection point. There’s nothing but you and the boat, finding harmony with the wind, the waves and the current.”

Dan first learned to love paddling and adventure at an early age, camping with his parents in the Minnesota North country and in the Pacific Northwest, at summer camps as a kid, and later working up on the Gunflint Trail, guiding canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area and other back-country lakes and rivers.

He says it’s never too late to start your own adventure.

Dan’s advice for anyone striking out on their own to start an outdoor recreation business is essentially the same advice he’d probably give anyone approaching any new adventure: do it for the joy of the experience.

“If you’re starting a manufacturing business to support your passion, don’t let the work consume you. Stay out there doing what you love,” says Dan, “Keep trying to find that impossible balance. Don’t give up the adventure.”

Not everyone will – or could even possibly – see and do everything Dan has done, but he says everyone’s journey is unique. And adventuring with an experienced guide is the best way to start.

“Get out there. Let your guide worry about the details. Enjoy the experience, be in the moment. Appreciate where you are,” Dan says, “Whether it’s canoeing the Boundary Waters, or winter camping in your backyard, your adventure is yours.”

Written by: Scott Whitman

American Faces #71 - It's about family.

American Faces #71

This story is about a streetwise kid who grew up to build a successful decades-long career. David Foy was a rambunctious, overzealous kid with more energy than he knew what to do with. But he also had a passion for life and a huge untamed heart. Maybe that’s what makes this such a fascinating story to me. It’s about a guy who eventually experienced love and redemption, which profoundly influenced the man he is today.

David still has that same passion, and a huge heart. He’s driven by integrity and strives to make a difference in the world – through his successful realty business, through his family and in his community. But David’s trajectory early in life would not have predicted his current path.

David’s early years were tough, with a fractured family and a constantly changing housing situation. His mom had a rough go of it even before he and his sister came along, and she continued to make life decisions that made things even more difficult for all of them. But all along the way, caring people helped David and his sister, Bonnie, navigate their turbulent childhood to become people living lives very different from the chaos they experienced growing up.

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David will be the first to say that his loving foster family, and the love and support of his wife, changed the course of his life. David will also tell you he is the man he is because of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that started at Camp Shamineau when he was just 12 years old. His story is about those relationships, and about all the people who believed in him and invested in his life – his sister, his foster parents, social workers, teachers, good people on the street, an amazing wife, kids, friends, coworkers and the list goes on.

Daivd and his wife Heidi of 41 years are now blessed with a big family, including several adopted children (and also many grandchildren). Their heart for adoption is in part fueled by David’s own story – a past in which he learned what it meant to be accepted by a family that loves him unconditionally. Every one of their children are loved and cherished, no matter their past or the challenges that come with it.

This isn’t meant to toot David’s horn, but I think it’s important to shine some light on the fact that some people might think this man’s incredibly hard life would be a reasonable excuse to hold things close, be protective, maybe even be a little selfish. Who would blame him, really? But having known and watched David for over 20 years, I can truly say he has a huge heart for people. He’s helped so many others in so many ways that it’s hard to describe. He lives life boldly and unapologetically, and with love and energy to spare.

So, my take-away on this story with David? In a world where humanity seems a little rough around the edges there are people like David, who’ve known joy, sorrow and everything in between who use their own experience to speak truth and love and transform others’ lives. We all have life experiences that have shaped us. If you think about it, that means each of us has the potential to be a world-changer too.

American Faces #70 - Hope!

American Faces #70

It's often said that we are a product of our surroundings. I know someone who blows that theory to pieces. Enter Johan Gjenvick American Faces No. 70. Before he was 18 he moved 20+ times within the state of Minnesota due to a difficult home life brought on by alcohol and a fractured family dynamic. Later in his teen years, his older sister took him in and did her best to provide the young man as much stability as she could.

Sitting next to Johan now, you might find it hard to believe what he went through in those early years. To see him now, a dashing smile, an honest demeanor and an incredible heart to help others. Those kinds of traits don’t just develop by accident. Those traits were planted and nurtured by people who poured themselves into Johan – some when he was young, but others as he matured into the man and father he is today.

This man doesn’t let his past define him. He chooses to provide a stable home and a solid marriage, and strives to be an involved dad to four awesome kids. He also pours himself into the lives of others in his business life as a financial advisor and mentor whenever he can.

I am amazed by people like Johan who aren’t defined by their past but define what the future of their lives are by being the change that is needed in their family story.

I like to close each American Faces story with a challenge. I’ll end this one with this: Go be a mentor, or a friend. Give a smile and an encouraging word to someone who needs it.